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Shiro Kurita was born in 2270 in the city-state of Yamashiro on New Samarkand, and was raised by his father Kamaro in the traditions of the 17th-century Japanese samurai culture. At the age of 24 he became the Lord of Yamashiro, and swiftly used blackmail and assassination to remove the other five city-state rulers as threats to his growing power. In January 2296, Shiro declared himself New Samarkand’s “First Citizen” and began planning and organising his path to empire.

In March of 2302, Shiro Kurita negotiated with the nearby planet of Galedon V a mutual defence pact aimed at the Ozawa Mercantile Association, the dominant economic power in the region. As the Director of the newly-formed Alliance of Galedon, Kurita had by November 2303 ruthlessly crushed the OMA. The following month, Shiro’s army carried out the first full-scale interstellar invasion in history when troops from New Samarkand and Galedon V invaded the planet Sverdlovsk. Over the next six years, the Alliance of Galedon expanded through a combination of diplomacy and war, until by early 2309 Shiro Kurita felt powerful enough to assume single-handed rule over his new empire.

Over the following year, Shiro undertook a diplomatic voyage that encompassed several major colony worlds. By June 2310, the Alliance had grown to include over thirty inhabited worlds. Many of these planets had been brought into the Alliance through secret agreements that promised Kurita's support against their enemies – which often included other new members of the Alliance. When, in June 2311, two of these worlds, Dieron and Altair, nearly went to war with one another, the truth behind Shiro Kurita's achievements became known. Some of the worlds under his control resented the methods he had used to unite them and their leaders spoke out against Kurita. Most, however, just accepted his rule without dispute.

To quell dissent, Shiro Kurita called for a conference to be held on New Samarkand in September 2311, to which he invited over one thousand politicians and other leaders from the entire northeast quadrant of human-settled space. Addressing the delegates, Kurita made an impassioned plea for cooperation between all their worlds under his leadership, holding their attention while his brother Urizen Kurita, commander of the Alliance's armies, surrounded the building with loyal troops. After his speech, Shiro offered the delegates a choice: submit to his leadership or die. Less than half of the delegates returned home safely from what became known as the Council of One.

In the aftermath of the Council of One, Shiro and Urizen Kurita ordered the invasions of Benjamin, Asgard, and Telos IV. By August 2312, after brutal campaigns of conquest, all three worlds had fallen to Kurita’s armies. During the next seven years, only a handful of worlds offered ineffective resistance to Urizen Kurita’s battle-hardened armies as other planets peacefully submitted to the Alliance.

By November 2319, Shiro Kurita controlled an empire stretching from Terra to the Draconis Rift. He dissolved the Alliance of Galedon and proclaimed the formation of the Draconis Combine in its stead.

Though Shiro Kurita had at first intended to expand his realm near Terra, the rise of the Terran Hegemony forced him to reconsider his plans. In 2320, he decided instead to conquer all the remaining independent worlds within the north-east quadrant of the Inner Sphere; though successful, this campaign took the entire 2320s to complete. By 2330, Shiro realized that his new empire needed a unifying goal, and ordered the invasion of the Principality of Rasalhague. Although the Rasalhague campaign was largely a failure (Rasalhague would effectively remain an independent state until 2510), the Draconis Combine continued to expand elsewhere.

By the time Shiro Kurita died in 2348, the Draconis Combine encompassed over sixty major worlds, and was considered the second-most powerful of all the human states, second only to the Terran Hegemony.

I have chosen the dragon as our standard and our symbol, reflecting many facets of our existence. We must never forget the ancient Terran heritage of our line, with its samurai greatness. I remind you, too, that in many mythologies, the dragon is feared and respected for its strength, cunning, and willingness to destroy for the sake of its own power. Always keep the virtues of the dragon in mind, and use them to defeat your opponents.

Shiro Kurita had a close relationship with the AeroSpace manufacturer Raimei and was a prominant shareholder in the company. Shiro also flew as a hobby; the first production standard SB-26 Sabre fighter to be produced by Raimei on Galedon was given to Shiro when it rolled off the production line and would be flown by him on a number of occasions. Shiro's fighter was never flown by anyone else, and was subsequently placed on display in the Cultural History Center in Yamashiro where it remained until at least the late thirty-first century.[4]